On Tuesday a display of plants were set up in the seminary’s chapel and students in the “Extractivism: A Ritual/Liturgical Response” class said sorry to them.
Today in chapel, we confessed to plants. Together, we held our grief, joy, regret, hope, guilt and sorrow in prayer; offering them to the beings who sustain us but whose gift we too often fail to honor.
What do you confess to the plants in your life? pic.twitter.com/tEs3Vm8oU4
— Union Seminary (@UnionSeminary) September 17, 2019
The ceremony has prompted some criticism and mocking on social media, with some calling it nonsense or crazy.
The New York school has defended itself saying it was a “beautiful ritual” for students to confess the harm we’ve done to plants.
It added that the world is in a climate emergency caused by our disregard for creation and part of addressing the issue should be building new bridges to the natural world spiritually.
“Far too often, we see the natural world only as resources to be extracted for our use, not divinely created in their own right-worthy of honour, thanks and care,” the statement read.
“We need to unlearn habits of sin and death. And part of that work must be building new bridges to the natural world.”
So, if you’re poking fun, we’d ask…
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